Sámi teacher education emphasising land-based approaches for Indigenous rights

This chapter describes how Sámi pre-service teacher education at Sámi allaskuvla (the Sámi University of Applied Sciences) integrates and highlights the Sámi perspectives and traditional knowledge in its study programmes. In Norway, Sámi teacher education programmes, as well as national Norwegian teacher education study programmes, take into account Sámi cultural and linguistic contents in their curricula, plans and implementation. In addition, in Sámi administrative regions, the Sámi language compulsory school curriculum is offered. Sámi pre-service teacher education seeks to guarantee both children’s and Indigenous rights, and at the same time, emphasise the general need to secure knowledge building and transmission of Sámi perspectives. This chapter presents educators’ shared ideas about organising Sámi teacher education content, with a land education-based approach. The potential of land education-based learning, to pragmatically equip future teachers, and thereby Sámi communities, with the competence to preserve the cultural and linguistic heritage of the Sámi, is highlighted. The objective is to inspire other educators through the authors’ experiences, with similar goals to ensure quality and equality in education for Indigenous children and youth.